A Few of My Favorite Things

On Saturday afternoon, Jordan's great uncle, Barry, and his wife, Cindy, stopped by to drop off our belated wedding present and visit with us for a little while. They gave us a bottle of homemade Gewurztraminer wine in a handmade leather wine box and this AWESOME bowl that they had made by their neighbor who is into pottery. First of all, Jordan and I really like Gewurztraminer wine because we learned a lot about it when we went up to the Finger Lakes in NY last year. We even came home with a bottle of it from our favorite winery up there.


Second, the bowl is lovely! It is so unique and I am anxious to go to Michael's to find something I can use to help display the bowl upright.

My Betsy Ross flag for memorial day made it in the pic too! (Kinda)

The bowl is essentially made up of a bunch of leaves that overlap one another to make a bowl shape and she put a bundle of grapes and grape leaves on the side of it. Barry and Cindy told me that their neighbor even used the big oak leaves out of their yard to imprint the clay. Cindy originally picked it out because we were supposed to get married in the fall and she thought it would be so great because of the big leaves, but this present is wonderful any season.  Also, the grape accent is PERFECT because we have two huge grapevines on the west side of our house. 

See the grapevine under the tree? This picture was taken early spring, one of the first nice days of the season!

Barry kind of apologized to me for not getting us anything really "practical" for a wedding present but, in my opinion, this "impractical" kind of present is even better. Jordan and I lived together for two and a half years before getting married so we, along with A LOT of help from his grandparents, my parents, and Aunt Lori, have accumulated the practical stuff that is essential to running a home. Even some impractical and frivolous items, too!

I was looking around the house yesterday and realized that I had another unique piece that Aunt Lori bought me as a bridal shower present. She didn't want to get me anything off my Crate & Barrel registry, so she bought me a unique and functional art piece last summer at the State College Arts Festival.

Love that get I use this piece of art daily.

It is a kitchen utensil holder made by Melissa Carpenter of Claytime Studio, right here in State College, PA. She mostly works with stoneware and porcelain and all her pieces are FUNCTIONAL! They are meant to be used and are dishwasher, microwave, and food safe. Lori really wanted me to have something different that no one else had and it is even more special because it was the first REAL art piece we owned. I think that my little kitchen utensil holder really kick started my appreciation for unique pieces.

Jordan and I are so blessed to have such nice, thoughtful people in our lives who have taught us to appreciate one-of-a-kind, quality work. But don't get me wrong, I'd still take a Crate & Barrel gift card any day! ;)